She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (27 page)

“Why now then? The fight with Conner and Shane isn’t brand new. You’ve been there when they’ve argued before and you’ve never yelled.”

Ryan sighed. “It’s because of you.”

Amanda felt her eyebrows rise. “Me?”

“They were upsetting you. All of them. Isabelle running out of there and the guys squaring off. I knew it was stressing you and I didn’t like it.”

Something funny and warm and indescribable swirled through her chest to her belly. “You yelled at your friends because they were upsetting me?”

He gave her a little smile. “Does it feel that weird to be on the receiving end of the mama-bear thing?”

She thought about that. “Yes,” she finally said. “Does it feel weird to be doing the mama bear thing?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“I don’t hate it though,” she said honestly. Having someone looking out for her and wanting her to be okay was nice.

It wasn’t that she thought her siblings wanted her to
not
be okay, but really, none of them went out of their way to make sure she was. Because she was. As far as they knew.

“So you’re going to worry about me all the time now?” she asked. She kind of liked that idea. And that was stupid. Not only was she not used to people not worrying about her…she specifically worked to
not
make people worry about her. Plus, Ryan didn’t worry about people. Live and let live and all that.

He brought her up a little closer and his voice dropped lower. “Maybe.”

Her attention went to his mouth. This felt good. Too good. Not just being up against him, but the idea of him taking care of her.

And that was a really bad idea.

She could not fall into this—whatever it was—with Ryan thinking that it could last.

She finally managed to pull back from him. “You know, these attempts at friendship are not working so well.”

“You mean because whenever we’re together we want to rip each other’s clothes off no matter what else we’re trying to do?”

She couldn’t help a little smile. “Yeah, something like that.”

“Maybe we should just give in to it.”

Uh-huh. That would be easier. For a guy who didn’t really like to fight and try and stick, giving in to lust would be easier than working on something harder, like a real relationship. Even friendship took some effort.

He’d told her that he didn’t think the people he cared about should cause him stress. But the people she cared about caused it daily. And she’d brought it right into his living room.

She should just let him off the hook. But that wasn’t really her style.

“Maybe we should try it in public,” she said.

“Ripping each other’s clothes off in public?” he asked. “I could get into that. When and where?”

“Ha-ha.” She stepped back even farther and took a deep breath. “I mean, we should hang out somewhere more public together. As friends. That might work better.”

Ryan studied her as he tucked his hands into his back pockets. “You don’t give up easily, huh?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

She definitely didn’t. She could have left Emma to find her own ride a thousand times, she could have told Isabelle to shut the hell up about Shane on a daily basis over the past several months, she could have told her students at the college that she was available eight to five, Monday through Friday
only.
But she never did. She didn’t give up on people. No matter how much it drove her crazy or how inconvenient it was for her.

This friendship thing with Ryan was a good idea. No one could have too many friends, and nothing else was really going to work between them. Yes, the sex was amazing, but she could already feel that she was turning it into more than that. She didn’t have time to nurse a broken heart of her own when he figured out that the anti-Zen display her family had put on tonight was a four-times-per-week show.

However, she couldn’t quite bring herself to just leave him alone completely. Or to have him leave her alone.

She loved the sexy flirting, she loved his sense of humor, she loved his ability to make things calmer and easier, and she loved that, for whatever reason,
she
could get him to shed that calmness and really react.

“When and where?” he finally asked.

She had no idea. “Anything that’s not sexual.”

“And I was going to suggest the strip club. Darn.”

She smiled. “Right. And we can’t go for ice cream.”

“Why’s that?”

“I always get whipped cream on my sundaes, and there is no way you could survive watching me lick whipped cream off a spoon.”

His gaze heated slightly as he clearly imagined her doing just that. “We could go to a movie.”

“In the dark, sitting so close together for almost two hours? It would be too tempting to hold hands. Or hold something else,” she teased.

She shouldn’t tease. It was true that being that close to him would be far too tempting. Hell, she hadn’t been able to sit in the same
room
with him and watch a movie without wanting to kneel down between his knees and open his fly and…

She breathed in nice and slow and long like he’d taught her.

“Or something?” he repeated. “I’ve never gotten a hand job in a movie theater.”

She felt her whole body flush with heat hearing him say “hand job”. She wanted to do that to him. Right now, in fact.

Dang, this wasn’t working at all. She shouldn’t flirt. He’d respected the boundaries she put up, he’d gone along with the idea of being friends only, he’d said a few sexy sweet things earlier playing the dumb ball game, but for the most part he’d been a gentleman about all of this. Last night in his condo when she hadn’t even been able to make it through an entire DVD, all he would have had to do was say “come here” and she’d have been all over him.

But he hadn’t. He’d let her leave, hadn’t even tried to stop her or kiss her goodnight.

But if she was going to start with the innuendos and sexy talk, he wasn’t about to let it go by.

She blew out a quick breath and decided to move on—mentally and conversationally—from the hand job. “Maybe the hockey team’s in town.” She knew lots of women found the hockey players sexy, but with Ryan next to her she doubted she’d even be able to keep track of the score.

“I don’t know–there are a lot of sexual terms in sports,” Ryan said. “
Scoring
.
Putting it in
.
Slamming it home
.”

She swallowed hard.
Slamming it home
sounded a little violent, yet…she wanted it. “That’s—” She had to clear her throat. “That’s more of a basketball term, isn’t it?”

He grinned a slow sexy grin. “Let’s go see some basketball then. ’Cause I like the look it puts on your face.”

She put her hands to her face. “I’m thinking the zoo.”

“You want to go to the zoo together?”

“It’s pretty nonsexual,” she said. Then she thought about it. “Isn’t it?”

“Sure, as long as no one mentions breeding or mating.”

Right. With her luck the zebras would be going at it front and center.

“Well, I don’t have a better idea.”

He shrugged. “I think we might just have to accept that everything we do together is going to seem sexual.”

He was probably right.

“Okay, we’re going to risk the zoo. I’m going to take the afternoon off. I’ll pick you up at two.”

“I’ll be ready.”

She started for the door, but at the last minute she turned back. “Thanks for trying to do this with me.” The friendship thing seemed silly considering they’d already had sex, she knew. And Ryan certainly didn’t need to do anything to impress her or try to get her into bed. He wouldn’t be lonely at night unless he wanted to be.

Ryan pulled in a deep breath. “Sure. As long as you don’t figure out that I’d do anything for you, I’m probably okay.”

And then he said stuff like that and she really wanted…more. More of…everything. Being with him, talking to him, kissing him, touching him.

Dammit.

She stepped close and stretched to press her lips against his.

He couldn’t have been expecting it, but he reacted as if he’d been waiting and planning on this moment. He cupped her face in both his hands and walked her back until she was against the wall next to the door.

Then he
kissed
her.

His lips and tongue tasted every inch of hers, taking over and demanding her surrender. Which she willingly gave. Heat filled her and she felt like she could completely melt into him. He held her right where he wanted her, though she wouldn’t have dreamed of moving. Well, except maybe to get closer.

She arched her back, pressing her hips to his, and he groaned.

He was holding on to her, but her hands were free and she put them to good use. She stroked up and down his back, loving the firm heat under the cotton of his shirt. Then she slipped her hands underneath the shirt, needing to be skin on skin. She dug her fingernails in lightly, and he made a soft growling noise in the back of his throat.

Oh, she really liked that.

Her hand swept down to his firm ass, squeezing him and pressing him more fully into her. With the wall behind her, she felt every delicious bit of his arousal against her belly. And she needed more.

Bringing her hands around to the front, she ran her hand up and down the hard-as-steel flesh behind his zipper. He was so big and so hard and so… Everything in her felt like it was winding tighter and tighter and she was only touching him. And through denim at that. But she wanted every hot, hard inch, and she wanted him groaning and panting. She wanted his fingers tangled in her hair as she took him into her mouth. She wanted to feel him pulsing against her tongue and the salty taste of him of her lips.

She squeezed him and he pulled his mouth from hers.

“Damn, Mandi.”

She quickly unbuttoned and unzipped him. For some reason, she feared he would stop her and she had to get him naked before he realized what was happening and—

“Oh, no, you don’t.” He caught her under the arms as she attempted to go to her knees in front of him.

“Ryan,” she moaned. “Please.”

He stared down at her, his gaze hot. His breathing was ragged. Finally he asked, his voice rough, “Please what?”

“Please let me.”

“Let you what?” he pressed.

She licked her lips. His hand slid to the base of her skull, his fingers deep in her hair.

“What do you want, Mandi?” he asked softly, rubbing the pads of his fingers against her skull.

“You. In my mouth.”

His jaw tightened and he tipped her head back slightly. “That’s a lot more
friendly
than I expected us to be tonight.”

“I want you,” she said softly. “I can’t help it. We can be friends, but I need this too.”

His eyes darkened and he clenched his jaw again, as if he was fighting for control. She knew the feeling. She felt
hungry
, hot, like she was on the verge of begging.

“
You
need this?” he repeated. “You need to get on your knees and put that pretty mouth on my cock?”

She nodded as far as his hold on her head would allow. “Yes.”

He shook his head. “Holy hell.”

“Please,” she said again. She loved how it made his eyes narrow slightly. His need was clear in his eyes, and she knew that even though she would be the ones on her knees, she was in control here.

“I’m not going to come in your mouth,” he finally said. “I’m going to put you up against the wall and bury myself deep before that happens. Got it?”

Oh, yeah, she got it. “Definitely,” she breathed.

He kept his hold on her, but dropped one hand to his fly and finished unzipping his jeans, then pushed the denim and cotton encasing his huge erection out of the way, his gaze locked on hers the entire time.

She couldn’t tip her head to see, but she knew he was stroking himself with his hand and she felt her knees soften with want.

“Say ‘please’ one more time,” he said, his gaze dropping to her mouth.

She licked her lips again, then said, “Please, Ryan.”

He groaned and pushed gently, encouraging her to her knees. She went quickly, finally able to look at him. He was so big and hard and delicious. He still had his hand wrapped around his cock, and she found the sight incredibly erotic. She was hot and wet and ready for him too, but she needed to taste him, to give him this pleasure first.

She leaned in and he held his cock for her. Her lips closed around the tip as she put both hands on his ass, pulling him closer. She could tell he was holding his breath as he slowly pressed past her lips, his length sliding over her tongue, his girth stretching her open. She concentrated on relaxing, wanting as much of him as she could get. She took a moment to revel in the hot, pulsating feel of him. Then she sucked.

His hand on her head flexed and he muttered a curse under his breath. He put the hand not holding her flat on the wall, bracing his arm and leaning forward slightly.

She lifted her head, her lips tight around him as she slid to the tip, then sucked again.